The Executive Vice Chairman of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, Babatunde Irukera, has said most of the internally generated revenue of the commission is generated via the violation of statutory responsibility by companies.
Irukera, who was in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Sunday, added that he will be happy if the commission’s IGR drops as a result of less violation.
“Most of our revenue has come from violation of statutory Responsibility by companies. So, I say to us as regulators, we are not here to make money, we are not a government funding agency but in the absence of consequences people will continue to behave anyhow.
“So, the IGR is not so much of a mandate, it’s not that we have a target. It’s because people are doing wrong. I will be happy for our IGR to go down, not because we do less work but because people violate less.
“So, we proceeded in that manner and built our investigative capacity which I think is the most important thing because what I found id that the market is highly proliferated with all kinds of things, including the otherwise reputable businesses.”
The EVC also stated that Nigeria as a country has a very nationally lazy approach to regulatory work which made up a greater percentage of his quest for change through the commission.
He also added that he declined every form of partnership or support from any company so as to be able to hold them accountable for their wrongdoings.
“The CPC as it was, was completely a government funded agency with an average of one billion naira annually in terms of treasury funding which included payroll. When I took over the leadership there, I believed very strongly that Nigeria was such a large economy and we needed to regulate competition and a more robust provision to regulate even consumer protection. So, we got a new piece of legislation and from the day we operationalized that legislation, one of the things that I thought was that I think that we have a very nationally lazy approach to regulatory work, in the sense that the regulators live off either what comes from the government or what comes from the industries and I didn’t like that.
“I thought that a consumer protection regulator, especially competition regulator is a regulator that should facilitate business. For instance, one of the cores of consumer protection is called brand protection. If people love a brand, I have the responsibility to protect that brand. Secondly, the core of competition is putting more people in the space.
“So, we approached the market from the stand point of we don’t want anything from anybody. We don’t want any partnership with any business. We don’t want them to assist us. I want to be able to hold you accountable when you are wrong and so I don’t need your support. If you have intel about what others are doing, I welcome it but you are not going to fund my enforcement and help me to go and interdict any illicit products. I will do my work myself.
Chioma Kalu
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